Various devices have been developed for stamping or otherwise applying tax information to cartons of cigarettes. Such stamps are normally specific to a given state and/or local region. The stamps are typically applied prior to shipment of the cigarettes to a retailer such as a gas station or the like. Also, a given retailer may order a variety of different brands and sizes of cigarettes for a particular shipment.
Accordingly, machines have been designed to stamp cartons of cigarettes having various different types of stamps and different types and sizes of cigarettes and cigarette cartons. One type of tax stamping machine requires manual height and/or width adjustment to setup the machine prior to stamping cartons of a particular size. Attempts have been made to provide a stamping machine that can automatically accommodate cigarette cartons of different sizes without manual height and/or width adjustment by the operator. However, known devices suffer from various drawbacks. For example, the rate at which the machine can stamp cigarette cartons of different sizes may be quite limited. Also, such machines may not be entirely reliable in use, causing the cartons to become damaged or otherwise jammed in the machine if the machine does not function properly when attempting to accommodate cartons of different sizes.
Accordingly, a tax stamping machine capable of quickly and reliably stamping cigarette cartons of various sizes without manual adjustment by an operator would be advantageous.